Hector Camacho.Colorful but controversdial former world champion Hector "Macho" Camacho was shot in the face outside the Puerto Rican capital as he sat in a car.

A companion of Camacho who was in the car died in the shooting in which police said gunman opened fire on Camacho's vehicle in the city of Bayamon.

Doctors reported that Camacho was in serious condition but is expected to survive.

Dr. Ernesto Torres, the director of Centro Medico, the trauma center in San Juan, said the boxer was in critical but stable condition.

Dr. Torres said the bullet apparently struck Camacho in the jaw but exited his head and lodged in his right shoulder and fractured two vertebrae. The doctor said the boxer, who was trailed by drug and alcohol problems during a career that included some high-profile bouts, could be paralyzed from the shooting.

"Camacho's condition is extremely delicate," he told Telenoticias. "His physical condition will help him but we will see."

Police said no arrests have been made in the shooting.

Hector "Macho" Camacho's last fight was against then-welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya in 1997 in a fight De La Hoya won by a unanimous decision.

Even at the age of 50 Camacho was thinking of a comeback but now that is out of the question.

Camacho won the super lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight world titles in the 1980s.

Camacho has fought other high-profile bouts in his career against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard. Camacho knocked out Leonard in 1997, ending what was that former champ's final comeback attempt.

Camacho has a career record of 79-6-3 (38 KOs), with his most recent fight coming in 2010 but drug, alcohol and other problems have trailed Camacho since the prime of his boxing career.